I spent all morning at our property yesterday moving wood. I'd back the tractor down our dirt road to a log, hook a chain on to it, load up the bucket with kindling, and then drive it up to the top of the hill. I'd empty the bucket on to the kindling pile, and then drag the log to the log pile.
I'm loving this tractor. It has so much torque that nothing seems to slow it down. I hauled a log so large that I couldn't lift an end of it. It hauled a half dozen smaller logs, all at once, like they're not even there. But then there was the sparks.
I had Bessie idling while I rolled a large log onto the log pile when I heard her running a bit rough. I looked and saw sparks shooting out from under the hood. I quickly shut her down and pulled the engine cover off. The negative battery terminal clamp was melted. It seems that the battery has no tie down, and vibrations shook it over to the left side of the tractor where the terminal made contact with the engine hood, shorting everything out. Luckily, my next-door neighbor Earl has everything, including spare battery clamps, and I had Bessie running again in short order. I also put some rubber insulation over the terminal. I'll need to get some big honkin' zip ties to hold that battery down.
I kept moving logs until thunderstorms made me stop. Yeah, I got soaking wet, but it felt good because I was overheated from performing physical labor.
Speaking of physical labor, I'm enjoying it. I have some pretty severe issues with my lower back (two bulging disks, one herniated disk, and one protruding disk) but I think that exercise will be good for me, as long as I don't overdo it. And, for the record, I sleep well at night, right up until 4:45 AM when the sun dawns. Then I'm up for the duration.
There's plenty of wildlife here. We haven't seen the really good stuff yet, like bears, deer, and coyotes. But we have seen this.
I apologize for the jiggle cam. I had my telephoto on my camera, and I didn't want to lose precious moments swapping lenses. What were Chevy and Olivia all excited about? A turkey? A deer? Elvis riding a UFO? Nope. A friggin' chipmunk.
I'm loving this tractor. It has so much torque that nothing seems to slow it down. I hauled a log so large that I couldn't lift an end of it. It hauled a half dozen smaller logs, all at once, like they're not even there. But then there was the sparks.
I had Bessie idling while I rolled a large log onto the log pile when I heard her running a bit rough. I looked and saw sparks shooting out from under the hood. I quickly shut her down and pulled the engine cover off. The negative battery terminal clamp was melted. It seems that the battery has no tie down, and vibrations shook it over to the left side of the tractor where the terminal made contact with the engine hood, shorting everything out. Luckily, my next-door neighbor Earl has everything, including spare battery clamps, and I had Bessie running again in short order. I also put some rubber insulation over the terminal. I'll need to get some big honkin' zip ties to hold that battery down.
I kept moving logs until thunderstorms made me stop. Yeah, I got soaking wet, but it felt good because I was overheated from performing physical labor.
Speaking of physical labor, I'm enjoying it. I have some pretty severe issues with my lower back (two bulging disks, one herniated disk, and one protruding disk) but I think that exercise will be good for me, as long as I don't overdo it. And, for the record, I sleep well at night, right up until 4:45 AM when the sun dawns. Then I'm up for the duration.
There's plenty of wildlife here. We haven't seen the really good stuff yet, like bears, deer, and coyotes. But we have seen this.
Eastern Phoebe
A chipmunk, loading up on bird seed.
Sparrow.
Ruby could usually not care less about the goings on outside. Chevy, sometimes. But Olivia, the German Shorthaired Pointer hunting dog, is in doggie heaven. Don't believe me?
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